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Category Archives: Cookies

Since we’ve been on a brown butter kick lately (I mean, let’s be honest, when are we ever not on a brown butter kick), I figured why stop with corn bread when I have these delicious coconut cookies to share with you! Just when I thought it couldn’t get better than Joy the Baker’s Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (seriously, have you tried them? They are the chocolate chip cookie to end all chocolate chip cookies), Smitten Kitchen came along (as she does) and discovered the joy of the brown butter coconut cookie.

And oh the joy. Deb, you are a domestic goddess (as if we didn’t already know that). These cookies are absolutely divine. They’re soft and chewy in the center, slightly crispy around the edges and have the ooey-gooey tender flakiness of the coconut throughout. There’s almost as much coconut as dough, turning these cookies into crumbly, chewy sweet perfection. Add to that the nuttiness of the browned butter and you have single-handedly one of the best cookies I’ve ever eaten.

These cookies are definitely meant for sharing. Warning, do not leave yourself alone with the whole batch-it’s dangerous.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, stirring frequently. First the butter will melt, and then foam, and then turn a golden color before it turns brown. Stop when it is brown and smells nutty, but be sure not to overcook it as it will quickly burn. Remove from heat and refrigerator until the butter has solidified, about 1-2 hours. You can also put the butter in the freezer, but check back often to stir so it doesn’t freeze unevenly.

Heat oven to 350° F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Scrape the chilled brown butter into the bowl of a stand mixer and add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl. Pour half the flour mixture into the butter mixture and mix on low speed until combined. Add the remaining flour and beat until combined. Add coconut flakes and mix until evenly distributed. If the dough looks too dry or crumbly, add 1-2 tablespoons of water and mix until combined.

Cool cookies on a cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack. Cookies will keep for up to a week in an air tight container. Dough will keep refrigerated for a few days and up to a month frozen.

No Christmas, in my opinion, is complete without a tray of cookies to finish off a fabulous meal. This year, I’m participating in Patience Brewster’s online cookie exchange! If you’re not familiar, Patience Brewster is an artist and designer of handcrafted ornaments. What a fabulous way to share recipes and get in the holiday spirit! I’ve been baking up a storm at Chez Bowman – so far I’ve made 3 or 4 types of cookies (including these – ahem, famous ones), English toffee that I distributed to my coworkers in cute holiday packaging (all Martha Stewart-like), and my favorite holiday culinary tradition, Challah (a Jewish holiday classic, that’s become a staple in my family’s WASPy Christmas breakfast – more to come on that recipe in the coming weeks). Continue reading →

Last weekend, my friend Soffia and I competed in the Brooklyn Cookie Takedown, a cookie competition held at the Bell House in Gowanus, Brooklyn. To compete, all you have to do is bake 250 cookies, and show up to the venue and hand them out. Not too bad, right? Um…yea – easy, except that it’s 250 cookies (think 20 dozen cookies!). These were to be made in my tiny, tiny kitchen that lacks a stand up mixer. That’s right people, everything you’ve seen on this site to date is made with the use of my handy-dandy (pun intended) handheld mixer. Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend brought home a single serving pack of Nutter Butters and left them on the kitchen table. I don’t know where or why he got them, but they sat on our table for a week without being touched, taunting me. We don’t usually keep a lot of snacks in our apartment, partially because grocery shopping in New York is the worst, and mostly because I just don’t like having snacks around – I’m weak and get tempted too easily. Cheez-Its, for example, are simply banned from the apartment because I could eat the whole box in one sitting. I’m not proud. Continue reading →

I saw these cookies in last month’s issue of Bon Appétite and was looking forward to making them for Valentines Day’s. Since nothing says “I love you” more than chocolate. The recipe was really straight forward, but I knew something was off when the batter was more cake-like than cookie-like, and even though it thickened a bit while chilling in the fridge, the dough never turned into the consistency I imagined it would. Continue reading →

This past weekend my coworker, who is also an avid baker, and I teamed up to compete in a cookie bake-off competition in Brooklyn. And we won 3rd place!!!! The event was hosted by The Takedown, a food competition for the amateur home cook. It was so deliciously Brooklyn. The competition consisted of 30 cookie baking teams each with their own tempting recipe. Some were unique (Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies with a little kick), some were classic with a spin (sunflower seed chocolate chip cookies) and some complimented by ingenious marketing (the Cookie Vermonster, a pecan maple cookie with a Cookie Monster sidekick, come on!). Continue reading →

A good friend of mine is severely allergic to nuts. Like EpiPen stat, rush to the hospital kind of allergic. It’s a constant paranoia whenever I’m baking and sharing to make everyone aware if a dessert contains nuts. I warn everybody before they take a bite ‘- “WAIT – Those cookies have nuts, are you allergic?” The tough thing is, I absolutely love nuts, of all kinds. Hazelnut, cashew nuts, macadamia nuts, pistachio nuts (I couldn’t help myself), and often include them in a lot of my baked goods. So when my friend told me that she has a hard time finding pumpkin flavored desserts, one of her favorite ingredients, without nuts, I had to immediately fix this problem. Continue reading →

Last weekend, I did something I never in my life thought I would do – I ran a Tough Mudder. For those of you not aware of the “Tough Mudder Competition” I encourage you to check it out on YouTube as it’s highly entertaining to watch. The race is a 12 mile obstacle course, consisting of treks through uneven terrain, running through fire, jumping into ice baths, crawling through mud, running through an electric shock field, the list goes on. The obvious question here is, “Why would anyone ever want to do that?” Good question! The answer is pretty simple: I am terrible at peer pressure, and I have a serious fear of missing out. FOMO as they call it. Continue reading →

Is it just me, or did summer seem to fly by? I’m sure I probably say this every year right around Labor Day, but for some reason, this summer seemed to move particularly fast. Though normally I’m a bit sad to see summer close up shop, the crisp, perfect fall air that we’re starting to experience in New York is getting me very excited for the coming months, particularly for all the amazing things I can make in the kitchen. If you haven’t noticed, I’m a big advocate for cooking and baking with fresh, local ingredients when I can – and in order to do that, most produce has to be in season. Of course I love all the fruits and veggies that summer provides, but most of my favorites actually come into season in the fall: crisp apples, sweet acorn squash, and tart cranberries are just a few ingredients I’m already dreaming up recipes for. Continue reading →

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I absolutely love salt, and must admit I probably consume maybe a lot a little more than I should. It can sometimes be difficult for me when I’m cooking for others – always feeling like I should be holding back on the sodium, knowing that others don’t love it quite as much as I do. But seriously, nothing can ruin a dish more than if it’s under-seasoned, and in many dishes I cook that are simple with few ingredients, lack of salt can be a major mistake. But of course too much salt can be a killer, so I’m always walking the fine line trying to keep a good balance. After all, you can always add on, but you can’t take away in cooking and baking. Continue reading →